Many providers claim to offer free CRM software. This is because is makes their offering seem more attractive. Unfortunately, there’s usually a catch. Is Hubspot free? Not if you want the really useful features. Otherwise it’s just a basic CRM. Is SugarCRM free? Not at all nowadays. Is Salesforce free? Not a chance. And let’s not bother exploring Microsoft Dynamics as a free company CRM.

Corteza CRM Suite is the world’s premium free CRM software

The term “Free CRMs” needs careful definition. It’s not all just about cost, because there are three factors which define its freedom: Read more

More than ever, organisations need to deliver a customer-focused approach. This is because markets are evolving at a staggering rate and will continue to do so well into the future.

  1. The health pandemic changes working practices and locations
  2. The economic crisis obliges organisations to be more competitive or attentive to their audiences
  3. The squeeze in consumer spending, which will be with us for a long time to come, means priorities are changing. And, they will continue to do so.

Read more

Hubspot provides software products for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. With regard to the CRM functionality, Hubspot gives details on their website the the core is free, and you have to pay for advanced CRM features. However, we sometimes forget that when we speak about “free”. We’re more often than not speaking in terms of software “freedom” and getting CRM software free of charge!

I’ll explain software freedom below in more detail, because in a world where business processes and data have become critical advantages, the idea that your CRM suite is not actually yours should be a concern. Ownership and control of data is one feature where the Corteza CRM Suite beats all others, Hubspot included. Read more

One of the core features of Corteza is the powerful open-source Low Code platform. To clarify, this means that it’s a rapid development platform that allows you to create responsive business applications that run in the browser, without having to know how to write code. With the following 4 step plan you can make a fully functional record-based app for your business or organisation:

  1. Create a namespace
  2. Add modules
  3. Set up pages
  4. Insert charts

Read more

This is a common question, but a much better question is what should an open source CRM suite be? After all, there are quite a few choices out there on the market – including old stuff that pretends to be new and new stuff just not doing enough to be considered modern in any meaningful way.

Firstly, an open source CRM is a customer relationship management system where all of the software code is published in the public domain. In the case of Corteza, it’s all here: https://github.com/cortezaproject. If all the software is published, the idea is that it can never be taken away from you – whether you pay or not. A CRM suite is, after all, software upon which your business will rely for many years. Another advantage of this approach is that the software can easily be customized and there is usually a pool of providers with the required skills from which to choose. Read more

We are thrilled to announce that we have released the new documentation site for Corteza. The structure has been optimised and the content has been actualised. It now contains everything you need to know to install, set up and use the open-source digital work platform Corteza. The new structure also enables the community to contribute easier then ever before.

Structure

The documentation has the following structure: Read more

Cork, Ireland.
13 November 2019

Corteza today announced the release of Corteza Service Solution, the free, open-source and self-hosted Salesforce Service Cloud alternative. Corteza Service Solution is a customer service desk, built on the Corteza Low-Code platform. It enables businesses to deliver faster and more personalised service to their clients, across multiple channels.

Customer service agents are provided with 360-degree overviews on cases, accounts and contacts, enabling them to provide the most excellent service quickly. Entitlements, detailed product info and the knowledge base are easily accessible, empowering agents with the means they need to boost customer satisfaction. Read more

Corteza Low-Code is an essential part of Corteza, the Digital Work Platform for Humanity. With Corteza Low-Code businesses and organisations can build custom records-based management applications, and create granular permissions that reflect their hierarchy.

Building an application is done in 5 simple steps:

  1. Define what data you want to save in the module builder
  2. Define how the records and list/dashboard pages look like
  3. Optional: add charts with the chart builder
  4. Optional: add automation rules
  5. Deploy with a click

Read more

Over the coming months, the Corteza project will be launching its Ecological Programme, an initiative which orients the Digital Work Platform for Humanity towards what is perhaps the most pressing social and political issue of our time. There’s still some work to be done formulating a more detailed purpose and scope to our work, but once that’s complete, it will be full steam ahead.

Of course, at this point in history we’re in a crowded marketplace with giant cloud vendors pumping their corporate sustainability messages hard. That’s a challenge in itself, but I feel the bigger challenge is in focusing people on where the most gains are to be made. This involves having a good hard look at the platforms your organisation uses for going about its daily business. Read more

Cloud technology has been great for organisations of all types across the world, delivering inter-related ecosystems, keeping costs down and driving productivity. However, there’s still a key problem that needs to be addressed – there are simply not enough clouds. The market currently resembles an oligopoly, with a handful of providers dwarfing all others in size, scale and reach.

The world’s 26 richest people own as much as the poorest 50% and just 100 companies (mostly in the oil industry) are arguably responsible for 71% of the world’s carbon emissions. It’s tempting to draw a sneaky correlation between wealth inequality and climate problems, but that would be unscientific (to say the least!) and not the objective of this article in any case. However, there is some evidence that we’re also well on our way to creating data oligopolies. IDC reckons that half of the world’s data will be stored in clouds by 2025, so if dominance of the cloud industry continues as is we can be quite sure of exacerbated industry inequality. Read more